BoyLover.net

BoyLover.net (other names: BLN, BLn, bl.net) was one of the world's largest online boylover communities, and was the largest online message board for boylovers. The site was created by LostBoy and launched on May 1, 2002. It was completely re-designed later that year and launched again on December 1, 2002. Within six months it had attained a membership of over 1200, rising to 3000 a year after the initial opening. In July 2003 BoyLover.net spawned a companion website, BoyLoverLinks.net, which catalogs and presents a diverse collection of links of interest to boylovers.

In 2004, the FBI seized BoyLover.net's servers as part of an investigation into the website alleging that they hosted child pornography.

The bulletin board closed down around November 25, 2009, and in the aftermath several of the board's administrators and various members were raided by their local authorities. These raids also caused the shutdown of two other websites, KidzLandOnline, and BoyLandOnline. At the time of it's closing, BoyLover.net had over 70,000 members.

Features

BLN was run through the Ultimate Bulletin Board software and had forums for a variety of languages including Spanish, Dutch, Russian, and Hungarian. There were also various forums for entertainment threads and pictures or videos in addition to literature forums and an area specifically for members under 18 years of age (where those over 16 were not permitted). In December 2005, the most popular forums were The Porch and The Entry, with The Poolside following in third. Of the foreign forums, Das Deutsche Zimmer and El Caurto Hispano were the two most popular with 91212 and 79998 posts respectively.

Site design heavily featured: large, illustrative photographs; strong use of bright colors; and a multitude of icons. Color scheme was occasionally transformed, in recognition of significant or tragic events, to a monochromatic theme.^{[Citation needed]}

Members were categorized according to their post count, with a member starting as "New Kid" and eventually becoming "Elder Brother" at 5000 posts. While this made it simple to tell oldtimers from newbies, it often led to members posting playfully in order to increase their post count, and hence their status.^{[Citation needed]}

Site management was highly organized, and a team of Buddies were responsible for welcoming and guiding new members of the community. Highly respected members were sometimes named Mentors. Only one member, Friend, had been named Mentor.^{[Citation needed]}

The site also featured a free online magazine called Modern Boylover Magazine which started in 2006. The latest issue of MBM was published in December 2015.

Security

BoyLover.net's rules and guidelines were intended to safeguard the site's legality according to United States law. A complex, three-tiered organization of nearly 100 volunteers served users of the site and enforced site policy.

According to site administrators, BoyLover.net's servers were seized by law enforcement authorities in 2011.^{[Citation needed]}

Site administrators have been criticized for taking a cavalier attitude toward security problems.^{[Citation needed]}

Some portals had warned against BoyLover.net on grounds that the site allowed off-site image links, making IP harvesting relatively simple. Due to this, visitors were advised to turn off images when loading BoyLover.net forums if they are worried about their surfing habits being analyzed by unknown and potentially hostile parties.

BoyLover.net's privacy policy was visually lengthy, and within that it was clearly stated that they collected IP addresses. Further, it was stated that they (BoyLover.net administration) would share personal information of members to comply with law enforcement or to protect the board.

Mission statement

The following was taken from BoyLover.net's home page:

BoyLover.net provides a safe, supportive, and legal environment where boylovers, boys, and others interested in boylove can share thoughts, opinions, feelings, and experiences. Its forums are online meeting places where questions, advice, and debate take place freely in an atmosphere of comfort and mutual respect, and where educational material and information about boylove can be shared.

Webmaster arrested

After a three year long law enforcement investigation, Boylover.net webmaster was arrested in his native Netherlands, over a hundred board members were arrested by the police worldwide for being involved in off the board activities related to child sex. After initial contact on the discussion board members would use e-mail and other electronic channels to share child pornography images and videos.

The board, which had up to 70.000 members with only a few of them allegedly taking part in illegal activities, ceased to exist in 2010.